Popes speak about Saint Benedict


St Benedict.jpgOn the eve of the Solemnity of Saint Benedict, it is good to think with what the various popes have said about this famous and holy monk, Saint Benedict:

 

After his pious death, when the holy Patriarch went to heaven, the Order of monks he founded was far from failing or collapsing; rather, it seemed not only to be over nourished and strengthened by his living example, but also to be supported and vivified by his heavenly patronage, so that it went on increasing year by year. (Pope Pius XII, 1947)

When darkness seemed to be spreading over Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, he brought the light of dawn to shine upon this continent. For with the cross, the book and the plow, Christian civilization was carried, principally through him and his disciples, to the peoples who lived in those lands which stretch from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia and from Ireland to Poland. (Pope Paul VI, Naming St. Benedict co-patron of Europe, 1964)

At the heart of St. Benedict’s monastic experience is a simple, typically Christian principle, which the monk adopts in all its radicalness: to unify one’s life around the primacy of God. This “tenere in unum”, the first, fundamental condition for entering monastic life, must be the commitment unifying the life of the individual and the community, and be expressed in the “conversatio morum” which is fidelity to a life-style lived concretely in daily obedience. The search for Gospel simplicity requires continual examination, that is, the effort “to do the truth”, by constantly returning to the initial gift of the divine call which is at the root of one’s own religious experience. (Pope John Paul II, 1999, 1500th anniversary of the founding of Subiaco)

…with his life and work St. Benedict exercised a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture” and helped Europe to emerge from the dark night of history” that followed the fall of the Roman Empire.  (Pope Benedict XVI, Wednesday, 9 April 2008)

Sun and Seed

Weather-wise, the day was spectacular. The day was spent at the modest lake house the abbey has had for many years on Lake Norman, just north and west of Belmont Abbey. Among many things the five of us did together today was to plant grass seed to cover the bare spots in the “lawn.” The day away also afforded us the opportunity to foster the companionship and devotion (to the Lord): we prayed the Office of Sext and had lunch. By the way, are you aware that a bale of straw costs $4.75? I think it’s a little expensive for straw! But I suppose the farmer is worth his wage.

Brother Anthony was tired of sowing seed so he showed the inspirational video “The Everyday,” a narrative about the monkish life at Mount Savior Monastery in New York state. Mount Savior was founded in 1950 by Father Damasus Winzen in order to live a monastic life without an outside work like a school or parish and to be most devoted to the Divine Office.

In all the day was a nice getaway with confreres. And let’s hope that it rains soon and that the birds don’t get fat on the seed.

Pope Benedict tells us to fix our gaze on Christ, He answers our prayers

Excerpts from the Pope’s speech at the Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger Centre, Cameroon, yesterday:

Faced with suffering, sickness and death, it is tempting to cry out in pain, as Job did, whose name means “suffering” (cf. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, I,1,15). Even Jesus cried out, shortly before his death (cf. Mk 15:37; Heb 5:7). As our condition deteriorates, our anguish increases; some are tempted to doubt whether God is present in their lives. Job, however, was conscious of God’s presence; his was not a cry of rebellion, but, from the depths of his sorrow, he allowed his trust to grow (cf. Job 19; 42:2-6). His friends, like each of us when faced with the suffering of a loved one, tried to console him, but they used hollow and empty words.

In the presence of such torment, we feel powerless and we cannot find the right words. Before a brother or sister plunged into the mystery of the Cross, a respectful and compassionate silence, a prayerful presence, a gesture of tenderness and comfort, a kind look, a smile, often achieve more than many words. This was the experience of a small group of men and women, including the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John, who followed Jesus in the depths of his suffering at the time of his Passion and his death on the Cross. Among them, the Gospel tells us, was an African, Simon of Cyrene. He was given the task of helping Jesus to carry his Cross on the way to Golgotha. This man, albeit through no choice of his own, came to the aid of the Man of Sorrows when he had been abandoned by all his followers and handed over to blind violence. History tells us, then, that an African, a son of your continent, took part, at the price of his own suffering, in the infinite suffering of the one who ransomed all men, including his
station 5.jpgexecutioners. Simon of Cyrene could not have known that it was his Saviour who stood there before him. He was “drafted in” to assist him (cf. Mk15:21); he was constrained, forced to do so. It is hard to accept to carry someone else’s cross. Only after the resurrection could he have understood what he had done. Brothers and sisters, it is the same for each of us: in the depths of our anguish, of our own rebellion, Christ offers us his loving presence even if we find it hard to understand that he is at our side. Only the Lord’s final victory will reveal for us the definitive meaning of our trials.

Can it not be said that every African is in some sense a member of the family of Simon of Cyrene? Every African who suffers, indeed every person who suffers, helps Christ to carry his Cross and climbs with him the path to Golgotha in order one day to rise again with him. When we see the infamy to which Jesus was subjected, when we contemplate his face on the Cross, when we recognize his appalling suffering, we can glimpse, through faith, the radiant face of the Risen Lord who tells us that suffering and sickness will not have the last word in our human lives. I pray, dear brothers and sisters, that you will be able to recognize yourselves in “Simon of Cyrene”. I pray, dear brothers and sisters who are sick, that many of you will encounter a Simon at your bedside.


B16 Cameroon.jpgSince the resurrection, and right up to our own time, there have been countless witnesses who have turned, with faith and hope, towards the Saviour of mankind, recognizing his presence at the heart of their suffering. May the Father of mercies graciously grant the prayers of all who turn to him. He answers our call and our prayer, as and when he wishes, for our good and not according to our desires. It is for us to discern his response and to accept the gifts that he offers us as a grace. Let us fix our gaze upon the Crucified one, with faith and courage, for from him come life, comfort, and healing. Let us learn to gaze on him who desires our good and knows how to wipe the tears from our eyes. Let us learn to abandon ourselves into his embrace, like a small child in his mother’s arms.

17 new novices for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are growing and rumors of the friars receiving pontifical recognition later in the spring flowering.

 


CFR Novitiate Class 2009.jpgThe novice master Father Glenn Sudano has his hands full with 17 new novices. He invested them with the grey habit recently. May they be given the grace of perseverance. The novitiate is at Most Blessed Sacrament Friary in Newark, New Jersey.

 

More pictures here.

 

The vocation director, Father Gabriel, would be happy to hear from you if you thought God was calling you to a mendicant’s vocation. Call him at (212) 281-4355.

Ite ad Joseph, go to Joseph

Behold a faithful and prudent servant, whom the Lord has set over His household. (Magnificat antiphon)

 


St Jospeh DMcManus.jpgThe instinct of Mother Church to go to Joseph is an incredible insight: the one who looked after, formed and cherished the Son of God also looks after us, the adopted children of God. Experience from childhood when the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth lived a life that I would characterize as centered on S the example of Saint Jospeh certainly demonstrated to me that a life as a Catholic is somewhat deficient with an acknowledgement, no, a reliance upon the foster Father of the Savior. At Notre Dame High School (W. Haven, CT) the Brothers of Holy Cross taught me to have a very simple reliance on Saint Joseph. There was a constant reminder of their beatus’ picture in the main office, that of Blessed Brother André, who had an infectious devotion to Saint Joseph (but one that didn’t eclipse his following Jesus) that manifested itself in fidelity and then the building of Montreal‘s Saint Joseph‘s Oratory. Blessed Brother André said once: “When you invoke Saint Joseph, you don’t have to speak much. You know your Father in heaven knows what you need; well, so does His friend Saint Joseph. Tell him, ‘If you were in my place, Saint Joseph, what would you do? Well, pray for this in my behalf.'”

 

Later in life, the famed emeritus archabbot of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Lambert, told me that his own religious life and service as a priest would have been less than adequate without his devotion to Saint Joseph. He seemed always to say: Go to Jospeh. In fact, he attributes the flowering of the archabbey and seminary to the intercession of Saint Joseph. This also became true for me in that I attribute meaningful for myself and my father through the intercession of Joseph.

 

The March 2009 issue of Touchstone magazine published an article by Joseph R. Fornieri entitled, “The Good Father.” A worthwhile look at Joseph’s place in Christianity.

 

At last night’s Vespers Cameron the Pope delivered a homily speaking of Saint Joseph as a man fully alive and someone who lived the gift of fatherhood fully. Two lines stand out for me: “Joseph teaches us that it is possible to love without possessing,” and “The life of Saint Joseph, lived in obedience to God’s word, is an eloquent sign for all the disciples of Jesus who seek the unity of the Church.”

 

What would a friendship, a family, a parish community, a Benedictine abbey, indeed the world be like if we actually loved the other person without possessing him or her and if we followed (a truer meaning of the word ‘obedience’) the Word of God? Would our happiness explode? Would we live without counting the cost? Would we loose anything of value of ourselves?

 

The Catholic Information Service has a wonderful booklet on Saint Joseph. I recommend getting it. Email cis@kofc.org or call 203.752.4267.

Genuine religion widens the horizon of human understanding

My friends, I believe a particularly urgent task of religion today is to unveil the vast potential of human reason, which is itself God’s gift and which is elevated by revelation and faith. Belief in the one God, far from stunting our capacity to understand ourselves and the world, broadens it. Far from setting us against the world, it commits us to it. We are called to help others see the subtle traces and mysterious presence of God in the world which he has marvellously created and continually sustains with his ineffable and all-embracing love. Although his infinite glory can never be directly grasped by our finite minds in this life, we nonetheless catch glimpses of it in the beauty that surrounds us. When men and women allow the magnificent order of the world and the splendour of human dignity to illumine their minds, they discover that what is “reasonable” extends far beyond what mathematics can calculate, logic can deduce and scientific experimentation can demonstrate; it includes the goodness and innate attractiveness of upright and ethical living made known to us in the very language of creation.

This insight prompts us to seek all that is right and just, to step outside the restricted sphere of our own self-interest and act for the good of others. Genuine religion thus widens the horizon of human understanding and stands at the base of any authentically human culture. It rejects all forms of violence and totalitarianism: not only on principles of faith, but also of right reason. Indeed, religion and reason mutually reinforce one another since religion is purified and structured by reason, and reason’s full potential is unleashed by revelation and faith.

 

Pope Benedict XVI address to the Muslim Leaders of Cameroon

Apostolic Nunciature

19 March 2009

Saint Joseph


St Joseph and Child El Greco.jpgA just man honored from above,

A silent man, a man of love,

Saint Joseph served the Lord alone

On exile’s road, in family home.

 

A man who acted on the word,

He carried out what he had heard:

He took the Mother and he Child

From scorner’s stone and tyrant wild.

 

A man of faith, a man of trust,

He bore whatever loss he must

To keep the Mother and he Son

Until his life’s great work was done.

 

We praise you, God of majesty,

One holy, threefold Mystery;

Be Father, Son, and Spirit blest

By all who share in ev’ning’s rest.

 

(Sr. Genevieve Glen, OSB, Abbey of Saint Walburga, Virginia Dale, CO, 1998.)

OSB

The Benedictine monk or nun vows obedience, stability and conversion of life.

Stability = God is not elsewhere; being in one place allows you to live your vocation in love and grace over the long haul, rejecting the novelty of moving here-and-there

Obedience = When my will is cracked open grace comes in

Conversion of Life = Our true selves are oriented toward the Divine Mystery. Why not be transformed into a living flame of love?

Way of the Cross CD with Liam Neeson Available


Way of the Cross LNeeson.jpgLiam Neeson, one of the leading international motion picture actors of our day, reads the Introduction, written by Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori, and the 14 Stations of the Cross. The 14 Stations and prayers are taken from the classic text, The Way of the Cross according to the Method of St. Alphonsus Liguori, the great 18th century Italian saint, doctor of the Church and founder of the Redemptorists. This text is used by Catholics around the world to retrace the footsteps of Jesus Christ on Good Friday.  

 

“I had heard about the Redemptorists and their missionary work in the Amazon rain forest of Brazil and in the slums of Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria,” Liam Neeson said. “I was moved to help because the Redemptorists are living the Gospel message in some of the poorest parts of the world, offering hope to families who have been forgotten or abandoned.”

 

The Very Reverend Father Thomas D. Picton, provincial superior of the Denver Province said: “It combines the unmistakable voice of Liam Neeson, the glorious hymns of our founder, Saint Alphonsus Liguori (first time being heard in the U.S.), and the brilliant orchestration done by Ray Herrmann, a Grammy-award winner and arguably the world’s finest Catholic recording artist.”

 

Ray Herrmann, co-founder of Little Lamb Music, has spent the last 20 years playing with and arranging music for some of the biggest names in American music, including: Diana Ross, Chicago, Bob Dylan, Santana, LeeAnn Rimes, Stevie Wonder, George Benson and Herbie Hancock. Ray is also in the house band on the hit television show, American Idol.

 

Proceeds from the sale of the CD support the work of the Redemptorist missions in Brazil and Nigeria .

 

To order the CD go to: www.littlelambmusic.com or call (800) 231-1207